The disclosures herein relate generally to computer systems, and more particularly, to user configuration of a computer system in a multi-user environment.
Current corporate environment for computer system usage includes the assigning of employees to a specific office location when the employees arrive to work on a day-to-day basis. On any given day, one cannot predict which office any one employee will occupy. Some of these employees may be required to use computer systems that do not move from office to office. In such an environment, where users share computer systems, the computer system user""s preferences for BIOS-level settings are not always honored because the settings are typically stored in system memory which is part of a given computer system. If one modifies the BIOS-level settings on a computer system, future users of that system will have to accept the settings or manually modify the settings to their own preference.
Some parts of the BIOS-level settings (e.g., CMOS contents) currently may be saved and restored manually by having the computer user execute certain utility software. The utility software would have to be run on every machine a particular user would use. Note that the first time a user were to use a given computer system, there would be no settings saved on the computer system. In such a case, the computer system user would have to manually make all the desired changes and then save the changes on the given computer system.
In addition, in currently available computer systems, BIOS level settings are generally stored in a prescribed location within the computer system. Under normal usage, the location is a secure location. The BIOS level settings typically maintain their integrity from use to use by a computer user. BIOS level settings however are subject to being altered or corrupted. For example, the CMOS memory for storing the BIOS level settings may get corrupted or the settings may get corrupted by faulty software. In the event that the BIOS level settings are corrupted, the settings can typically be restored to some pre-established default settings. Exemplary BIOS level settings may include device boot order, serial port settings, interrupt settings, power management settings, and other similar type settings. The BIOS level settings can further include prescribed factory settings and user modified settings which are different from the factory settings.
BIOS level settings can typically be modified by accessing a BIOS set-up screen on the computer system. At the BIOS set-up screen, the settings can be changed by a user. Further with respect to a multi-user environment, consider a situation in which a boot device order setting has been changed or modified by a first computer user, the boot device order being different from a boot device order setting desired by a second computer user. The first user may desire for the computer system to boot from the floppy disk drive and the second user may wish to boot from a portable external media bay drive which the second user carries around. The second user would not be able to boot from the given computer system, since the BIOS level setting is set to boot from the floppy disk drive by the first user. A failure of the computer system would occur in such an instance, that is, in the event that the first user modified the BIOS level settings as noted, further without changing the settings back to the original or default settings. The second user would be unable to boot from the external media bay drive.
It would thus be desirable to have an improved system and method for providing BIOS-level user configuration in a multi-user computer system environment.
According to one embodiment, a computer system having capability for implementing BIOS level configuration settings includes at least one processor, at least one memory, basic input output system (BIOS) firmware, and at least one BIOS configurable device. The at least one memory includes operating system code. The BIOS firmware includes a smart card BIOS level setting support feature. The BIOS configurable device is subject to being configured by the at least one processor in response to a prescribed smart card actuation of the smart card BIOS level setting support feature prior to a booting of the operating system code.
The embodiments of the present disclosure advantageously provide an improved system and method for providing BIOS-level user configuration in a multi-user computer system environment.